Mid-Century Manhattan : 1950s New York City in Kodachrome

Harold Mayer's photographs show us 20th Century New York City in glorious color

Harold Mayer was a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a leading scholar in urban geography. A specialist in urban and transport geography of North America with a focus on New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and British Columbia, Mayer travelled widely, taking photographs along the way. He used his large photographic collection in his teaching. To illustrate changes in urban landscape, he often returned to the same city to take a picture of the same sight over the course of several years. His collection can be viewed at the American Geographical Society. These are his Kodachrome photographs of Manhattan, New York City, taken in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

New York City color photographs

New York, Manhattan, view of advertisements in Times Square – 1948

New York, Manhattan, view of United Nations buildings under construction 51

New York, Manhattan, view of United Nations buildings under construction, 1951

Manhattan New York City color photographs

New York, Manhattan, Ambassador Hotel on Park Avenue

Manhattan New York City color photographs

New York, Manhattan, designated children’s play street with residential buildings – 1956

Manhattan New York City color photographs

Lower East Side street scene, 1956

New York, Manhattan, Macdougal Alley 56

New York, Manhattan, Macdougal Alley, 1956

n, people gathered beneath Washington Square Park Arch 56

People gathered beneath Washington Square Park Arch, 1956

New York, Manhattan, public housing development 56

Public housing development, 1956

New York, Manhattan, street scene near Herald Square 56

New York, Manhattan, street scene near Herald Square, 1956

New York, Manhattan, street scene on Broadway near Herald Square 56

Street scene on Broadway near Herald Square, 1956

New York, Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town residential development 56

New York, Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town residential development, 1956

New York, Manhattan, residential street in Sutton Place neighborhood 56

Residential street in Sutton Place neighborhood, 1956

New York, Manhattan, view of Park Avenue north from 58th Street 56

View of Park Avenue north from 58th Street 1956

Via: University of Wisconsin

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